Mercykillers
Table of Contents
Who We Are
The city of Sigil is home to the triumvirate of justice: the Harmonium, the Mercykillers, and the Fraternity of Order. The Mercykiller’s role is in dispensing justice. Whilst for a long time this amounted to executions and imprisonment, it was with the reforms started by Nilesia that saw the birth of a new mindset and take on justice. This spawned other divisions such as Witness Security and the rapid response and investigations detail known as the Interceptors.
Of the three sets of laws in Sigil (Lady’s Law, City Law, and Faction Law) the Mercykillers are responsible for meting out punishments for those who break City Law. It is not for them to punish crimes against the Lady, and they know better than to get involved in Faction politics. Things like theft, murder, fraud and the likes all fall under their jurisdiction.
A word from your Factol...
To be entrusted with the dispensation of justice is the highest and most respected of callings. It requires a clear mind, a breadth of knowledge, and the appropriate context for any given situation. We are all of those, and more. We are the strong arm of justice that swings the axe, the hands that operate the gallows, and the ken that guides the dragon.
Our role as Justiciars is one for which we are loved and respected, and for that we are grateful. But it is also one for which we are hated and feared.
So be it.
We do this out of love for our City. Out of love for its residents. Out of love for justice itself; and there is no greater act of love than to do something for which we know we will be hated, but is for the greater good.
We, the Mercykillers, are Justice here. Let the Harmonium patrol the streets and keep the clueless berks in order. Let the Guvners try the accused and see to it that their trials are carried out as fair as can be. We wish only to punish the guilty - to wrongly punish is our most feared of failings.
It is the Guilty who fear us. For we are the executioners.
A Mercykiller's Journey (Executing Justice)
The Eight Tenets of Justice
- I will uphold justice above all else, purging the multiverse of those who break the law.
- In all situations I shall weigh the rights and wrongs with a clear and impartial mind.
- I shall decide where Justice must fall under the law, and I will mete out that Justice with a firm and unyielding hand.
- I believe in the righteousness of my faction; we alone answer to the higher law of Justice.
- I will not pass judgement on good or evil, self-serving or self-sacrificing; only on matters of law-abiding and law-breaking. We must trust that the law is right to remain truly impartial.
- I will punish the guilty as the crime demands.
- I will be diligent in my pursuit of the guilty, and while so engaged I will remain innocent of any wrongdoing in the eyes of my peers.
- I will never release a lawbreaker until their sentence has been carried out.
Cutters looking to join the Mercykillers face some pretty stiff restrictions. No berk with a Chaotic dispensation is permitted - they will be sniffed out in seconds. No known criminals or conspirators are permitted either.
Furthermore, in order to join, one must successfully debate the Eight Tenets of Justice for the entirety of a day. At the end of the day, a berk who still wants to join (and hasn’t been turned out) must swear to each of the tenets individually.
Sods who make it this far must attend to three weeks of compulsory training, in which they will be pushed to the limits of their physical and emotional stability. After these three weeks, they sign up with the Division of their choice for a further nine weeks of on-the-job training.
Justiciar (Namer)
Namers within the Mercykillers, regardless of their division, are known as Justiciars.
All Namers join the Mercykillers at the same position: that of a lowly recruit, not even yet a true Namer. After finishing their twelve weeks of training, the cutter looking to join is invited to make their first Blood Oath, which they carry out under the watchful eyes of a Factotum. This solidifies their status as a Justiciar - a Namer.
The twelve weeks of training have been known to be waived in exceptional circumstances, when there can be no doubt of the sods commitment to Justice and the security of the Cage.
Executioner / Justice / Monitor (Factotum)
Factotum within the Executioner Division are known as Executioners. WitSec Factotum are known as Justices. Interceptor Factotum are known as Monitors (and congratulated for not being dead yet).
Each division is responsible for its own members’ advancements and personal development, and has its own rules and qualifications to determine when a member advances to a fully-fledged Factotum and full-time member of the Mercykillers. For Executioners and WitSec, these involve competency tests showing good practice out in the field. For Interceptors, you just need to survive long enough.
Chief Executioner / High Justice / Ward Monitor (Factor)
Factors within the Executioner Division are known as Chief Executioners. Factors within the WitSec Division are known as High Justices. Factors within the Interceptors Division are known as Ward Monitors.
Openings for these positions are limited and highly contested - they only come about due to retirement or death and, rarely, by the need to expand. These roles are granted to those who have impressed the head of their division the most.
Factol
The position of Factol is taken up by the Division Head who can drum up the most support among the Mercykillers. This generally involves a lot of pointless posturing and threats until only one candidate is left.
Faction Mechanics & Character Options
Those raised within the ranks of the Mercykillers know very little sleep. They tend to be put through a great deal of physical, mental and emotional training. Whilst there is a general regime that all members undertake, involving weapons training, spells training and general combat training. Each division has their own regimen to further hone their skills.
For most members, the division they join will be the Executioners division. However, particularly vigilant and insightful folk get scouted for WitSec, and those with loftier ambitions will apprentice to one of the Interceptors and try not to die a horrible death in the process.
The player should discuss with the GM which division they wish to join during character creation.
Backgrounds
Raised to join the WitSec division, those sods are charged with ensuring the wellbeing and safety of key witnesses and victims until their survival can be assured and justice meted out. Not only must these members be vigilant at all times, they must learn to blend in with their surroundings and be silently ever-present around a target.
- Skill Proficiencies: Any two from: Deception, Insight, Perception or Perform
- Tool Proficiencies: Disguise Kit and Forgery Kit
- Languages: Any one
- Equipment: A disguise kit, a set of fine clothes, a set of common clothes, quill, ink and parchment, black Mercykiller insignia, a memento from an ex-protectee, and a pouch containing 10 gp
Feature: Blend
Provided you have the appropriate costume or believable attire, you can make Charisma (Perform) checks to hide in plain sight, and add 1d4 to the result. This works only against intelligent enemies, and those particularly intimate with the group you are blending in with have advantage on opposed checks to identify you.
Raised to join the Executioners, these sods have a fearsome reputation across the planes, and tend to lean into their roles, slapping on a bit of showmanship for the crowd. They are often the most sociable of the Mercykillers, enjoying a drink and a game of cards after work to either drown the horrors of their job or to kick back after an honest day’s work killing folk.
- Skill Proficiencies: Any two from: Athletics, Intimidate, Perform or Sleight of Hand
- Tool Proficiencies: Executioner's tools and any one gaming set
- Languages: Any one
- Equipment: A lengthy piece of executioner's rope, a whetstone, a set of common clothes, a set of bone dice, a drooping black hood, Mercykiller insignia, and a pouch containing 5 gp
Feature: Coup de Grace
You have no range limitations on scoring automatic critical hits against a target of your Blood Oath as a result of them being paralyzed or unconscious.
Raised to join the Interceptors, Responders have a stricter training regime than other Mercykillers. They have to learn to maintain and upgrade their own gear and equipment; having to use every advantage they can get to stop themselves from being killed.
- Skill Proficiencies: Any two from: Athletics, Perception, Stealth or Survival
- Tool Proficiencies: Land Vehicles proficiency and any two sets of artisan's tools.
- Equipment: A set of artisan's tools of your choice, a set of fine clothes, black spiked fingerless gloves, Mercykiller insignia, and a pouch containing 10 gp
Feature: City Slicker
You know the best ways around Sigil, as though you know how the city warps and rearranges itself. You can lead a party between any two known locations in Sigil in half the usual time, and do not suffer movement penalties when tracking or moving stealthily across long distances in Sigil.
d4 | Faction Draw (Ideal) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Justice, Someone has to dispense justice for the betterment of society. If people hate me for it, so be it |
| 2 | Art, I’m an artist, the gallows are my mural |
| 3 | Protection, I want to keep people safe - those in the most danger need the most vigilant protection |
| 4 | Response, I’ve seen what happens when terrible people go unchecked in this city. I’m here to keep them in line |
d4 | Faction Mentor (Bonds) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Alisohn Nilesia, an ex-factol, now a semi-retired instructor |
| 2 | Keldom Ironside, a vicious executioner with a bad reputation |
| 3 | Aimee (alias), a mysterious witness protector |
| 4 | Dishahl, a deva interceptor and famous artist |
Faction Restriction
You must abide by the eight tenets of justice. If you are known to have broken them, you are cast from the ranks of the Mercykillers. How strictly or how you interpret these tenets are of course, up to you... just be prepared to justify your actions.
Roleplaying a Mercykiller
How you interpret the eight tenets of justice is up to you - you just need to be prepared to defend your reasoning.
Style and Flair
The main colours of the Mercykillers are - as befitting the old nickname “Red Death” - red and black. Low ranking members wear predominantly blood reds: armour, robes, shields etc. The higher rank you become, the more black your attire takes on; till the Factol’s outfit resembles but drops of blood on a black canvas.
Each of the three sects also has their own quirks.
- Executioners will always have a drooping black hood, over which they will generally wear a blood red helmet and carry a red emblem. Whilst ‘actively executing’ they will doff their helm and raise their hood.
- WitSec have no set rules, and are often dressed inconspicuously to blend in with the local populace. Their formal attire is as any citizen, save with a black emblem hidden upon their person.
- Interceptors will have a pair of black spiked fingerless gloves, which are known to inspire fear in those who see them and also fetch a helluva price on the blackmarket. They carry a golden emblem and rarely are seen without their armour.
A "Good" Mercykiller...
- Defends the innocent, especially witnesses.
- Is swift and efficient in the dispensation of justice.
- Works to understand the full extent of the situation (wherever possible) before dispensing justice.
Faction Powers
Namers within the Mercykillers, regardless of their division, are known as Justiciars. All Justiciars gain the following power can make Blood Oaths. Your Division determines what kind of Blood Oath you can make:
- Executioners: Blood Oath of Retribution.
- WitSec: Blood Oath of Protection.
- Interceptors: Blood Oath of Interception.
Once per long rest, or by spending inspiration, at the start of your turn you may end one condition on yourself if a target of your Blood Oath is within 300 feet that you can see or hear. For Blood Oaths of Interception, consider all other people with that Blood Oath to be targets for the purpose of this ability.
All Factors within the Mercykillers can make Improved Blood Oaths. Your Division determines what kind of Blood Oath you can make:
- Executioners: Improved Blood Oath of Retribution.
- WitSec: Improved Blood Oath of Protection.
- Interceptors: Improved Blood Oath of Interception.
Faction Armoury
Blood Oaths
The Mercykillers are in possession of a decent supply of Drake’s Ink; a potent chemical that can be used for blood-binding tattoos. The exact nature of this ink is kept highly secret, but there is enough of a supply for it to be available to any faction member. Using this ink, a Mercykiller can write a name on their body to leave a permanent tattoo - and with their will manifest a variety of useful effects for the keeping of Justice. These are known as ‘Blood Oaths’, and are one of the main reasons for the Mercykillers being so feared.
During Nilesia’s reign as Factol of the Mercykillers, there was an incident involving one of their members forging Blood Oaths against targets that they knew to be innocent. Whether or not they did this under duress is lost to the annals of time, but ever since then the Mercykillers have been a bit more strict about the use of Blood Oaths. One Factor and at least one other Mercykiller must be witness to you making the Oath, and must sign the details in the Book of Oaths.
The Factol can always end a Blood Oath (and return the hit die) if the Oath can be proven to be unjust given the knowledge available at the time the Oath was made.
There are three types of Blood Oath, each one corresponding to a different Division.
Executioner Division only.
For your Blood Oath, name the crimes that the accused must answer for, and how they are to answer for them. This Oath is complete when the named target has answered for their crime as noted. Whilst this Oath is active:
- You always know what plane your target is on (if they are on a different plane) or what direction and how far they are from you (if they are on the same plane). If your target has a nondetection or similar effect on them, you only know whether or not they are on the same plane as you.
- You have advantage on any Investigate or Survival skill checks in relation to tracking them down.
- You have advantage on any Initiative roll if that target is directly involved in the combat.
- You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saving throws against spells or effects from that
target. - If you are within 10 feet of them when they die, their Soul is instantly Judged and condemned to Carceri.
WitSec Division only.
For your Blood Oath, name a Duty that a willing target must perform at some point in the future. This oath is complete when your target performs that duty, or you both agree to end it. Whilst this Oath is active:
- You always know what plane your target is on (if they are on a different plane) or what direction and how far they are from you (if they are on the same plane).
- Provided you are on the same Plane, you know how healthy the target is (in terms of hit points relative to their maximum) and when they take damage or become under the influence of a hostile spell or magical effect.
- If you are within 20 feet of them and they suffer damage, you may spend a reaction to split the damage between the two of you however you like. Do not apply any of your resistances, immunities or weaknesses to this damage.
- Your target has advantage on all saving throws versus enchantments and mind-affecting spells and effects from sources other than you whilst you are within 20 feet.
Interceptors Division only.
Your Blood Oath is unique, and you may only have one Blood Oath of Interception at any one time. This oath is complete when you retire from active service or are Dead and Judged. Whilst this Oath is active:-
- Once per long rest, you may use an action to send a message of no more than 25 words to any number of other members with this Oath.
- Once per short rest, you may use an action to think about another person with this oath. You know where that person is provided they are on the same plane as you, their relative health and whether or not they are in imminent danger (at their discretion). If they are willing, you may share their senses for up to one minute.
- At the start of combat, you may swap positions and/or initiative with one other willing target with this Oath, provided they are within 30 feet and also in the combat.
- Attacks against you have disadvantage provided another ally with this Oath is within 5 feet of the attacker.
Interception Division only. Factor or higher only.
As Blood Oath of Interception, with the following addition:
- When a spell or effect would force you or another target with a Blood Oath of Interception within 30 feet to make a saving throw, you may use your reaction to give all targets with a Blood Oath of Interception within 30 feet a bonus to their next saving throw equal to your proficiency bonus. You may do this once per short rest.
WitSec Division only. Factor or higher only.
As Blood Oath of Protection, with the following addition:
- When the target of your Blood Oath takes damage, you may use your reaction to Teleport into a square adjacent to them, provided that you are on the same plane as them. You may do this once per short rest.
Executioner Division only. Factor or higher only.
As Blood Oath of Retribution, with the following addition:
- When you score a critical hit against the target, you may add twice your character level to the damage roll as your choice of either force, psychic or necrotic damage. You may do this once per short rest.
The Chant
History
The Mercykillers were initially formed from the combination of a number of factions during the Great Upheaval. The largest two of which were the Sodkillers; a group of hired muscle, enforcers, and racketeers - and the Shields of Mercy; a group of Paladins and good-natured folk who had some rather hardline views on the law. Neither were particularly sizable and would never have survived the Lady’s Edict that culled the factions on their own; so they got together and hashed up a bunch of shared laws and banded together to find themselves a niche within the city. Those eight tenets are the same to this day:
A Faction is Born
Just like that, a faction was born. The Mercykillers instantly embraced their new tenets… perhaps a little too much so at first. For a while, they were certainly over-vigilant in their dispensing of justice - performing executions for most crimes and imprisonment and torture for those suspected of wrongdoing. The Sinkers loved them for it; all the murder and incarcerations made for excellent sources of entropy, and it was only Factol Pentar’s chaotic prison breaks that soured things between the two factions.
The Mercykillers soon enough earned themselves the moniker of “Red Death”. Bloody executions became synonymous with justice, and fear served the greatest deterrent. This lasted until Nilesia initiated her reforms wherein she tried to get the Mercykillers to obey a more genuine sense of justice, trying in vain to rebrand them as simply “Reds”. Neither the name, nor this newfound sense of justice, caught on particularly well.
The Second Upheaval
When the Second Upheaval came a'knockin', the Harmonium (acting as the City Watch) found themselves a bit thin on the ground dealing with all the riots and pitched fighting going on around the Cage. As such, the Mercykillers had to step in to help keep matters under control. Nilesia, the then-Factol, rounded up the 27 most lethal, most trusted Mercykillers she knew. From them she formed the first ever Interceptors division - a division that still exists to this day.
The goal of the Interceptors division was simple: to dispense justice. Given the amount of crime and fighting that was happening, it was next to impossible to see the full course of justice through for every sod. So the Interceptors were put together to dispense justice on the spot, there and then. They would teleport into active fights and crimes and, with their vast experience of the law, mete out the appropriate punishments without trial.
It was a controversial move that only served to make the Mercykillers more hated. That said, they would claim that it helped save countless lives, and perhaps the fate of the Cage itself.
So… what now?
The Mercykillers are a funny lot. Whilst they technically have one Factol - Factol Hue, there are two other heads of their respective divisions who command just as much respect, and to whom their divisions are arguably more loyal and likely to take orders. These are High Justice Vakui of the WitSec division, and Ward Monitor Dalkon of the Interceptors.
Notably, Ward Monitor Dalkon is something of a troublemaker, vying for the official position of Factol by arguing that the Interceptors are more relevant to the needs of justice than the Executioners. If it weren’t for Nilesia's presence in the shadows, he’d have likely made a move already.
References & Inspiration
- Font Awesome - For the (placeholder) icon
- Mimir's Mercykiller page - General reference and inspiration